THK ROSK FAMILY. 



241 



QUEEN-0F=THE=PRAIR1ES. 



Ubnaria rubra. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE 



Kose. Pinfc or purple. Frat^idiit. Kentucky niui Georgia 



to Pennsylvania 

 and ivest^vard. 



TIME OF BLOOM 

 June^July. 



Funvers : small ; growing in open, cymose panicles. Calyx: five-lol)efl. 



Corolla: witli five rounded, clawed j)etals. Slanu-iis 

 compound with long, smooth petioles and large, 

 foliaceous stipules, the lateral leaflets sessile, all 

 palmately three to five lobed, or divided, the sec- 

 tions being pointed, sharply and doubly serrate and 

 incised ; the terminal one much larger than the 

 others; bright green and mostly glabrous. Capsule: 

 small; tipped with a little beak. Stems: tall, 

 erect; branched; glabrous. 



Jostling among, and mingling with the pro- 

 cession of flowers, that no waning in its beauty 

 may be felt, the queen-of-the-prairies takes its 

 place in early June. And every inch a queen 

 among flowers the plant looks when its brilliant 

 spray is fully blown. It is one of the most 

 lovely lights of the prairies, and also illumines 

 many a strip of moist ground. It seems to- have 

 been thought that its leaf segments resemble 

 the elm's foliage, and the generic name is in 

 reference to this idea ; the likeness, however, 

 it must be confessed, is not sufliciently strong 

 to present itself to every mind. Through the 

 east sometimes the plant is seen as an escape 

 from cultivation. 



numerous. 



lai 



g^-. 



Ul in aria rubra. 



Ncviusia Alaba?nensis. {Plate LXXI.) 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE 



Kose. Greenish zvliite. Scentless. Alabama. 



TIME OF BLOOM 

 April, May. 



FloT.vers : showy; growing singly or in lateral, leafy clusters, on filiform, 

 pubescent pedicels. Calyx : with five spreading, lanceolate, pointed and incised 

 sepals. Corolla: none. Slai/iois : numerous ; exserted. Filavicnts : thread-like. 

 Leaves : simple, alternate ; with short, pubescent petioles and bristle-like stipules, 

 pointed at the apex and rounded at the base, doubly serrate ; bright green and 

 glabrous above, slightly pubescent underneath along the ribs. A shrub two to 

 five feet high with reddish, leafy twigs. 



Rare even among the rarest plants is Neviusia Alabamensis ; for at only 

 one place in the world is it known to grow in a wild state, and perhaps from 

 there, before many years have passed, it will have altogether vanished. On 



